Bryce Miller May Start Season On Injured List
Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller may not be available for the start of the season. Per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, Miller felt some soreness in his left side today and didn’t finish his bullpen session. “He’s definitely behind,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said. “It’s the type of injury where it seems wise not to push him too fast. Obviously, we won’t make any decisions until we need to.”
Miller was slowed by some left side soreness about two weeks ago. An MRI revealed some inflammation and he was given a platelet-rich plasma injection. His planned bullpen session today was part of a ramp-up that could have seen him stretched out for the start of the season. This setback appears to put that in jeopardy. He is not being fully shut down, as he will still be playing catch and doing some other activities, but the Mariners will want the soreness to clear before he fully lets it fly from a mound again.
It doesn’t seem like this is a major issue but it could be an early test of Seattle’s rotation depth. The Mariners have a strong starting group when everyone is healthy, as they have Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo and Miller. Once they have to dip into their depth, things get a bit more questionable. Divish mentions Cooper Criswell and Emerson Hancock as the two guys most likely to step up if Miller does miss some time.
Criswell’s best season to date was his 2024 showing with the Red Sox. He tossed 99 1/3 innings in a swing role, allowing 4.08 earned runs per nine. His 17.2% strikeout rate was subpar but he only walked 7.3% of opponents and induced grounders on 50.3% of balls in play. In 2025, the Sox added some arms and Criswell was mostly blocked, only making seven big league appearances. He had a decent showing in Triple-A, throwing 65 2/3 innings with a 3.70 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 49.4% ground ball rate.
Despite the passable numbers, Criswell exhausted his final option in 2025, pushing him to fringe roster status. The Sox signed him to a 2026 deal with an $800K salary, a bit above the $780K league minimum, even though he hadn’t yet qualified for arbitration. The plan seemed to be to pass him through waivers, allowing him to serve as Triple-A depth even though he’s out of options. That plan didn’t work, as the Mets claimed him off waivers in December. When the Mets nudged him off their roster, Seattle sent some cash to Queens to get him from DFA limbo.
Criswell’s number are fine but there’s a bit of risk there. His velocity doesn’t reach 90 miles per hour, making him a soft-tosser in this era. He has been able to get guys out regardless, but it’s a fine line to walk.
Hancock is a former sixth overall pick but his big league performance hasn’t lived up to that status yet. Over the past three years, he has given the M’s 162 2/3 innings with a 4.81 ERA, 15.6% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 40.1% ground ball rate.
One thing that may perhaps work in Criswell’s favor is that Hancock still has an option, so he could be sent to Triple-A to stay stretched out there. Since Criswell is out of options, he needs to either be in the rotation or the bullpen. If Criswell does end up with the rotation spot, that would help alleviate the pressure in the bullpen. Seattle’s eight projected relief arms are all out of options except for Matt Brash and Jose A. Ferrer, who are too good to be sent down.
If Hancock and Criswell are both up in the big leagues, Blas Castano would be the only optionable depth starter in the Triple-A rotation. He has just one major league appearance on his track record and posted a 5.19 ERA in Triple-A last year. The Mariners have Dane Dunning, Jhonathan Díaz, Randy Dobnak and Casey Lawrence in camp as non-roster invitees with some big league experience.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Mariners Notes: Miller, Crawford, Labrada
General manager Justin Hollander updated reporters (including Seattle Sports’ Shannon Drayer and MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer) about some injury situations in the Mariners’ camp, including some side soreness for Bryce Miller. The right-hander reported some discomfort on his left side on Thursday, and a subsequent MRI revealed inflammation. Miller received a PRP shot and will be fully re-evaluated in about a week, though he could begin playing catch in a few days.
Drayer described Miller’s shutdown as “very precautionary,” and the soreness was mild enough that Miller might not have even told the team if the issue has arisen during the regular season. That said, there obviously isn’t any reason for Miller or the Mariners to push things during Spring Training. It isn’t out of the question that Miller could start the season on the 15-day injured list as a further precaution, or if he isn’t able to get back onto the mound in a week’s time to continue his normal spring ramp-up.
Miller is already coming off an injury-marred season that saw him limited to 90 1/3 regular-season innings. Bone spurs in his throwing elbow twice sent Miller to the IL, though he returned in the last half of August to make eight more starts, and then posted a 2.51 ERA over three starts and 14 1 1/3 innings in the playoffs.
Rather than undergo surgery to address the bone spurs, Miller has opted for such non-surgical treatments as a cortisone shot, a PRP shot, and a Synvisc injection to try and avoid a procedure. It was just over a week ago that Miller stated he had been able to have essentially a normal offseason, though this seemingly minor bout of side soreness is surely unwelcome.
If things developed to the point that Miller did need an IL trip, Emerson Hancock would probably be Seattle’s top choice as a rotation fill-in. Blas Castano and long man Cooper Criswell are also on the 40-man roster, or the Mariners could opt to select the contract of a non-roster invite like Casey Lawrence or Dane Dunning.
Turning to the diamond, J.P. Crawford is expected to play in his first Cactus League game of the spring on Tuesday. The veteran shortstop will be in Tuesday’s lineup as the DH, as Crawford is still recovering from a shoulder issue that has slowed his progress in camp. Hollander said the plan is for Crawford to return to shortstop the following week, which should give him plenty of time to be ready for Opening Day.
There has never been any concern that Crawford would miss any regular-season action, as the M’s were simply easing Crawford into his spring work. He is taking part in a live batting-practice session today to get some at-bats against actual pitchers under his belt before his debut game.
After an oblique strain and a fractured right hand limited Crawford to 105 games in 2024, he rebounded for a healthy 2025 campaign and a .265/.352/.370 slash line with 12 homers over 654 plate appearances (translating to a 113 wRC+). Crawford is now entering both his age-31 season, and the final year of the five-year, $51MM extension he signed with the Mariners in April 22. With star shortstop prospect Colt Emerson on the verge of his MLB debut, Crawford’s future in Seattle could be in doubt, so he’ll need a strong season to impress the M’s or potential other suitors as free agency looms.
Prospect Victor Labrada made his Triple-A debut in 2025 and could be on the radar for his first big league call-up at some point in 2026, but his season could be delayed by an oblique strain. Hollander said Labrada hurt his oblique yesterday while swinging in the batting cage, and an MRI today will determine the extent of the injury.
Labrada hit .265/.397/.376 over 235 plate appearances with Triple-A Tacoma, and he has an overall .267/.365/.402 slash line across 2155 PA in his minor league career. The 26-year-old doesn’t have much power, but he has terrific speed, with 172 steals out of 222 attempts. This speed and solid glovework at all three outfield positions could make Labrada at least a backup outfielder at the MLB level, and his ability to stick as a regular will depend on how well he can reach base and capitalize on what Baseball America describes as “solid bat-to-ball skills to hit the ball to the alleys.” BA ranks Labrada as the 26th-best prospect in the Mariners’ farm system.
Mariners Notes: Garver, Arroyo, Miller
After the Mariners declined their end of Mitch Garver‘s $12MM mutual option last fall, Garver took his $1MM buyout and then sat through a “super slow offseason. Never really got any good offers or formal offers,” as the catcher told the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude. Garver’s long wait in free agency ended two days ago when he re-signed with the M’s on a minor league deal, and Garver credited his fellow backstop Cal Raleigh with helping get the ball rolling on the reunion.
Earlier this week, Garver said “Cal reached out and said, ‘Maybe you should try calling the Mariners.’ So we called Justin [Hollander, the Mariners’ GM]. Within 24 hours, we were able to work something out.” Reports from December indicated that Seattle had some interest in bringing Garver back, and though Andrew Knizner was signed to a one-year, $1MM guaranteed deal, Garver’s return gives the M’s some more depth behind the plate.
Raleigh made 38 starts at DH last season, as the Mariners wanted to give the slugger a break from catching duties while still keeping his power bat in the lineup. Since a fresh and productive Raleigh is critical to Seattle’s hopes, the team figures to use this same tactic again in 2026, opening the door for plenty of time for a backup catcher. It perhaps isn’t out of the question that both Garver and Knizner are on the 26-man roster, though the M’s are probably more likely to stick with Raleigh and one backup as the catching corps.
Elsewhere at the Mariners’ camp, Adam Divish of the Seattle Times writes that infield prospect Michael Arroyo will get some looks as a third baseman and left fielder once Arroyo returns from national team duty with Colombia during the World Baseball Classic. Arroyo has never played in the outfield as a pro, and played in a handful of games at the hot corner when playing with the Mariners’ Dominican Summer League team in 2022. Otherwise, Arroyo has played exclusively as a middle infielder, and was only a second baseman and DH in the minors in 2025.
Heading into 2026, Baseball Prospectus ranks Arroyo as the 36th-best minor leaguer in the sport, and The Athletic’s Keith Law (49th), ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (62nd), and MLB Pipeline (67th) all have Arroyo within their preseason top-100 rankings. The consensus on Arroyo’s defense is that he could end up as a decent big league second baseman, though between offseason acquisition Brendan Donovan and a bunch of other infield prospects, it makes sense that the Mariners would want to expand Arroyo’s versatility.
2027 is probably the likeliest date for Arroyo’s Major League debut. He just turned 21 last November, and had a modest .255/.376/.341 slash line over 250 PA with Double-A Arkansas in 2025. Arroyo’s approach at the plate is well-regarded by scouts, but he’ll need some bigger numbers in the minors (and probably an injury or two ahead of him on the depth chart) to get himself on the radar for a big league call-up this year.
In a longer piece from Ryan Divish, Bryce Miller reported good health and a normal offseason routine in the wake of an injury-plagued 2025 season. Miller was limited to 18 starts and 90 1/3 innings in 2025 due to a pair of stints on the injured list, as Miller battled bone spurs in his throwing elbow. Rather than a surgical option, Miller received a cortisone shot and a PRP shot to help his recovery, and he finished his tough year on the high note of a 2.51 ERA over three starts and 14 1/3 innings during Seattle’s postseason run.
Following the season, Miller said he got a Synvisc injection, which is “like a gel, like a joint lubricant.” This allowed him to proceed as normal this winter, and he may be able to avoid surgery altogether.
“[Dr. Keith] Meister was like, ‘Don’t touch it [Miller’s elbow]. If it feels good, don’t touch it’,” Miller said. ” ‘Now that we know kind of how to help it, if you feel anything in the offseason or anything in Spring Training or anything during the year, just get another injection, to get back rolling again now that we know how to fix it.’ He advised against doing anything until I feel something and I haven’t felt anything.”
Miller is already up to 98mph in his live batting-practice sessions, and he has added 15 pounds of muscle over the offseason. Now entering his fourth MLB season, Miller looked like a breakout star when he had a 2.94 ERA over 180 1/3 innings with the Mariners in 2024, before his bone spurs hampered his progress last year.
Mariners, Bryce Miller Avoid Arbitration
The Mariners announced that they have avoided arbitration with right-hander Bryce Miller by agreeing to a one-year deal with a club option for 2027. Miller will make a $2.4375MM salary in 2026, according to Adam Jude of The Seattle Times. The club option is worth $6.075MM and has a $15K buyout, so Miller is guaranteed $2.4525MM, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The club option is voided if Miller finishes in the top five of Cy Young voting in 2026. He will still be controllable via arbitration through 2029 regardless of how the contractual situation plays out.
Miller was one of 18 players who did not have a deal in place when the arbitration filing deadline passed earlier this month. He just qualified for arbitration for the first time this offseason as a Super Two player, meaning he will go through the process four times instead of the standard three. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $2.4MM salary. Miller filed at $2.625MM and the Mariners at $2.25MM.
A gap of just $375K is a drop in the bucket for a major league baseball club but it compounds when looking at the bigger picture. A player’s subsequent trips through arbitration see his salary grow as a percentage of where he started. Therefore, a $375K gap can actually lead to a swing of millions over three years, or four in this case.
Most teams these days adopt a “file and trial” approach, which means they cut off negotiations of one-year deals after the filing deadline. This is to give them leverage in pre-deadline talks and also to prevent players from filing absurdly high numbers in an attempt to set out an aggressive bargaining stance. An arbiter can only pick the player’s or the team’s number, not a midpoint.
Even if a team does have a “file and trial” policy, exceptions are made for deals that are longer than one year, even if that extra year is an option. That gives the club a path to avoid a potentially contentious hearing while sticking to their policy, in a sense. A deal with an option can’t be used as a comparison point in future arb hearings as well, which is a factor.
Arbitration hearings are generally viewed as part of the business but occasional situations have cropped up where the relationships between a player and a team appeared to have been damaged. Three years ago, Corbin Burnes said as much in the wake of his hearing with the Brewers. Miller and the Mariners have staved off any possibility of that scenario by meeting roughly in the middle between their two filing numbers.
As mentioned, the club option is mostly a measure to avoid this agreement being used as a future comp. Even if it is voided or turned down, Miller would remain under club control through 2029 via arbitration.
There will now be no more than 16 hearings this year. Since the 18 players filed earlier this month, Cade Cavalli and the Nationals reached a new agreement and now Miller is off the list as well. Miller was the last Mariner in the arb class without a determined salary, so the club is now wrapped in that department.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
Bryce Miller Expected To Avoid Elbow Surgery
Seattle right-hander Bryce Miller is not expected to need elbow surgery this offseason, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. Miller had multiple stints on the injured list this past season due to elbow inflammation. He returned for the final six weeks of the regular season and made three starts in the playoffs. “I finished the year the best I felt all year — three good starts, I felt like,” Miller told Jude. “My body and my arm feel good, so just get better, get fully healthy and be ready to go from Day 1 next year.”
Miller was diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow and received a PRP injection in early June. He relayed to Jude that he has an upcoming appointment to determine the next steps in treatment. Miller said the likely route is a gel cortisone injection early this offseason, and potentially another one at the start of spring training. “Now that we know how to deal with the bone spur, we can figure out what we need to do exactly with it and go from there,” Miller told Jude. He added that he’d be “surprised” if the appointment led to an invasive procedure.
The elbow injury seemed to derail the early portion of Miller’s 2025 campaign. He struggled to a 5.22 ERA through his first eight starts. The control was the biggest red flag. After posting a solid 6.4% walk rate in 2024, Miller nearly doubled that mark to 12.1% over his first 39 2/3 innings. He hit the IL on May 14, though it was a minimum stint. Miller returned at the end of May, but only lasted two starts. He was hammered for eight earned runs over nine innings and headed back to the IL.
The results following Miller’s second absence weren’t much better. He closed the regular season with a 5.62 ERA over eight starts, but there were encouraging signs heading into the playoffs. Miller’s fastball velocity improved by nearly one mph. He cut his walk rate to 6.3%. Miller was mostly done in by a massive 24.5% home run to fly ball rate, which should be expected to regress over a larger sample.
Miller put everything together in the postseason. He limited the Tigers to two runs over 4 1/3 innings in Game 4 of the ALDS. Miller then came through with six dominant innings in a win over Toronto to kick off the ALCS. He returned in Game 5 with four innings of one-run ball, though Toronto’s bullpen couldn’t hold a late lead. Miller’s fastball velocity topped out at 98.1 mph in his second start against the Mariners.
The uneven 2025 season was a disappointing follow-up to a tremendous 2024 for Miller. He built on a solid rookie year, putting together 180 1/3 innings of a sub-3.00 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning last season. Miller’s 3.85 xFIP and 3.80 SIERA suggested he might not have been as good as his 2.94 ERA, but he looked like a fixture in a talented rotation.
After a remarkably healthy 2024, Seattle’s starters were hampered by injuries this past season. Logan Gilbert spent all of May and part of June on the IL with an elbow flexor strain. George Kirby missed the first two months of the season with shoulder inflammation. Bryan Woo went down with a pectoral injury in September. He was available for just 4 1/3 innings in the playoffs.
Seattle’s rotation led the league in ERA in 2024. The staff slipped to 13th this past season. With Miller managing his elbow injury without surgery, and an offseason for Woo to get back to full health, the rotation should once again be among the best in the league next season. The unit will be key in getting the team back to the postseason in 2026.
Mariners Select Sauryn Lao
The Mariners announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported reinstatement of Bryce Miller from the 15-day injured list. They also selected the contract of fellow righty Sauryn Lao. To open active roster spots for those two, righties Jackson Kowar and Casey Legumina were both optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. To open a 40-man spot for Lao, righty Trent Thornton has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Last night, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert had a surprisingly rough start. He lasted only two innings against the Phillies but not before allowing six runs. To get through the rest of the game, the M’s got three innings from Carlos Vargas, two from Legumina and one from Kowar. Legumina tossed 38 pitches and Kowar 30.
Miller is starting tonight and it’s unclear how much length he can give. He has been on the IL for over two months due to elbow inflammation. He got to 5 2/3 innings and 76 pitches in his most recent rehab start. It’s possible he could give the M’s something like that tonight but there’s also some natural uncertainty. To freshen up the bullpen behind Miller, the M’s have sent out Kowar and Legumina to bring in Lao.
Lao was selected to the roster in April. He got to make his major league debut on April 22nd, tossing one and two thirds scoreless innings. He was optioned to the minors the next day and designated for assignment a week later. He cleared outright waivers, allowing the Mariners to bring him back in a non-roster capacity.
Interestingly, the M’s have been stretching him out in Triple-A, even though he’s primarily been a reliever throughout his career. He has thrown 66 innings over 21 appearances this year with a flat earned run average of 3.00. He has struck out 26.3% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 6.7% clip. That should allow him to provide the M’s with multiple innings of relief, if needed.
As for Thornton, it was reported a couple of weeks ago that he is done for the season due to a torn left Achilles tendon. He will be spending the rest of the year on the IL. He is making $2MM in 2025 and could be retained for 2026 via arbitration. However, given his health uncertainty, it’s entirely possible the Mariners decide to non-tender him.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Mariners To Activate Bryce Miller On Tuesday
The Mariners are activating starter Bryce Miller from the injured list tomorrow, manager Dan Wilson tells reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). He’ll go opposite NL Cy Young candidate Cristopher Sánchez in the second game of their series against the Phillies. While Miller has been out for over two months, Seattle never transferred him to the 60-day injured list. They’ll therefore only need to make an active roster transaction tomorrow.
Miller will take an MLB mound for the first time since June 6. He has been sidelined since then by elbow inflammation. The righty received a platelet-rich plasma injection and was able to rehab without anything more invasive. He has made a trio of rehab starts with Triple-A Tacoma this month. Miller got up to 5 2/3 innings and 76 pitches in his most recent appearance last Wednesday. He allowed a pair of runs on two hits and a walk while recording four strikeouts.
Perhaps more importantly, Miller’s velocity has looked sharp on the rehab assignment. He’s averaging 96.4 MPH on his fastball, more than two ticks higher than his early-season MLB work. Miller struggled over his first couple months, allowing 5.73 earned runs per nine while averaging fewer than five innings per start. His 18.1% strikeout rate was down more than six percentage points compared to last season. Miller was one of the better pitchers in MLB a year ago, taking the ball 31 times and working to a 2.94 ERA across 180 1/3 frames.
Miller will try to recapture last year’s form as the M’s battle the Astros for the AL West crown. Seattle is a game and a half back while holding a 3.5 game cushion on the Guardians in the Wild Card picture. They’ve dropped five of their past six but have been aided by Houston losing four of their last six games. Miller will step into the rotation in place of rookie righty Logan Evans, who went on the IL with his own elbow issue last week.
Mariners’ Bryce Miller Out Four To Six Weeks With Elbow Inflammation
8:03pm: Booth relays this evening that, according to Mariners GM Justin Hollander, Miller met with elbow specialist Dr. Keith Meister today and received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing elbow. Miller won’t throw for the next two weeks, and Booth suggests that Miller could return to the Mariners in four-to-six weeks.
11:50am: The moves have now been formally announced by the team. Miller has been placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to June 7, with elbow inflammation. Evans has been recalled from Tacoma and will indeed start tonight’s game.
9:00am: The Mariners are placing righty Bryce Miller back on the 15-day injured list, reports Tim Booth of the Seattle Times. Fellow right-hander Logan Evans will be summoned back from Triple-A Tacoma to make tonight’s start against the D-backs in his place.
Miller was out for most of May due to inflammation in his right elbow. The Mariners hoped a cortisone injection would calm down the pain and allow Miller to reclaim his spot in the rotation, but that clearly didn’t pan out. The 26-year-old Miller made two starts between IL stints and was rocked for eight runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks with only four strikeouts in nine innings. Between that pair of dismal outings and a another pair of clunkers that preceded his original IL stint, Miller has yielded 19 runs over his past 18 frames.
In some respects, Miller has seemed off all season. He posted a solid 3.52 ERA and 24% strikeout rate in his first six starts of the season but did so while walking nearly 15% of his opponents. That’s a huge departure from Miller’s excellent 5.7% walk rate in 2023-24, the first two seasons of his big league career. His average fastball has also dipped this year, falling from 95.2 mph in 2024 to 94.5 mph in 2025. He’s also allowing hard contact and line drives at the highest rates of his career.
From 2023-24, Miller posted a 3.52 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate in 311 2/3 innings, cementing himself among Seattle’s long-term rotation plans in the process. Prior to this year, he’d been as durable as one can hope from a starter in today’s game. Miller skipped a couple starts in 2023 due to a series of blisters on his pitching hand, but this pair of IL placements due to elbow inflammation are the first two IL stints for actual arm injuries in either the big leagues or the minors. He started 31 games in 2024, 29 in 2023 (25 in MLB, four in Triple-A) and 26 in 2022.
There’s no immediate timetable on Miller’s absence. Given the rocky results and the inefficacy of the most recent cortisone injection, it seems fair to expect he could be sidelined for longer than the 19 days he missed on his last IL stint. The team will presumably have more information in the near future — if not when the IL placement is formalized today then in the days ahead.
In the meantime, the 24-year-old Evans will get another look in the big leagues. It’s well earned. A 12th-round senior sign out of Pittsburgh who commanded just a $100K draft bonus in 2023, Evans has quickly proven to be one of the more notable late-round steals in recent memory. He skyrocketed through the Mariners’ system last year and pitched so well that there was talk of a potential call to the big leagues just a year after he was drafted.
That didn’t come to pass, but Evans entered the year considered among the top 10 prospects in an absolutely stacked Mariners farm system and received his first call to the big leagues in late April. He’s since made six starts in the majors and posted a 2.83 ERA in 35 innings. His 17.4% strikeout rate is well below average, but his 6.9% walk rate is strong and his deep six-pitch arsenal gives opposing hitters a variety of average or slightly better offerings to keep in mind while facing him. Both Baseball America and MLB.com tout him as a high-probability fourth starter and note that his 6’4″ frame is that of a prototypical innings eater.
Evans will join Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Emerson Hancock in the Seattle rotation for the time being. Woo and Castillo have both been excellent this season. Kirby missed the first eight weeks of the year with shoulder inflammation and stumbled out of the gate but has looked sensational over his past two starts, logging a flat 3.00 ERA with a 17-to-1 K/BB ratio in 12 innings. Hancock has made nine very good starts (combined 3.26 ERA in 49 2/3 innings) and two terrible starts (combined 13 runs in 5 2/3 innings), balancing out to a lackluster 5.04 ERA.
Logan Gilbert, arguably the Mariners’ top starter, has been on the shelf since late April due to a flexor strain but is expected back soon. He’s made two rehab appearances already and is scheduled to make a third — and, per Booth, perhaps final — rehab start for Tacoma tonight.
Mariners Promote Cole Young, Activate Bryce Miller
TODAY: The M’s officially announced Young’s selection and Miller’s reinstatement from the IL. Right-hander Casey Legumina and infielder Leo Rivas were optioned to Triple-A in corresponding 26-man roster moves, and righty Will Klein was designated for assignment to open up space for Young on the 40-man roster.
Klein made his MLB debut in 2024 and posted an 11.05 ERA over 7 1/3 combined innings with the Royals and Athletics. Sent to the A’s as part of the deadline deal that brought Lucas Erceg to Kansas City, Klein was then flipped to Seattle in another trade this past January.
MAY 30: The Mariners will promote top infield prospect Cole Young this weekend, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. He is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the team will need to make a move in that regard. They’ll also need to create active roster space for Young and starting pitcher Bryce Miller, who’ll be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start tomorrow’s game against the Twins.
A Pittsburgh-area native, Young signed with Seattle out of high school in 2022. He received a $3.3MM bonus as the 21st overall pick. Scouting reports praised a potential plus hit tool and ability to play somewhere up the middle. While Young doesn’t have huge power projection in a 5’11” frame, he was viewed as a very polished player for his age.
That has been borne out in his systematic progression through the minors. He reached base at a .399 clip between two A-ball levels in his first full professional season. Young spent all of last season in Double-A, batting .271/.369/.390 as a 20-year-old in a tough league for hitters. The M’s bumped him to the more favorable Pacific Coast League this season. Young has taken to it well, running a .278/.391/.463 slash with more walks than strikeouts in his first look at Triple-A pitching.
The lefty-hitting Young actually began his Triple-A career mired in a slump. He hit .200 without a home run over 25 games in April. He’s been on an absolute tear since the calendar flipped. Young has raked at a .370/.466/.680 clip over 118 plate appearances in May. He has connected on five home runs, 10 doubles and three triples among a total of 37 hits. He has added another 15 walks while striking out all of eight times.
Young couldn’t have done more this month to force his way to the big leagues. He has divided his time evenly between shortstop and second base this season. Baseball America wrote over the offseason that he’s likely better suited for second base because of average arm strength. That figures to be his long-term home in Seattle. They’re committed to J.P. Crawford at shortstop. The path to playing time at the keystone is much more open. Ryan Bliss will miss most of the season recovering from biceps surgery. Miles Mastrobuoni and Dylan Moore have split the second base work over the past few weeks.
Moore is having a strong year, though his bat has tailed off following a huge April. He’s a right-handed hitter with a long track record of producing against lefty pitching. Moore figures to take some starts at second base against southpaws, but he’s versatile enough that it doesn’t need to be a strict platoon. Moore can spell Leody Taveras in right field or play regularly at third base over rookie Ben Williamson, who is hitting .246/.278/.297 through his first 38 games. Mastrobuoni, acquired in an offseason DFA trade with the Cubs, carries a .221/.306/.284 line through 111 plate appearances. He’ll be bumped to a utility role if not optioned to Triple-A.
Young was a consensus Top 100 prospect over the offseason. He meets the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. If he plays well enough to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, he could earn a full year of service time. A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson seems as if he’ll run away with the award, but the runner-up spot is still there for the taking. That would not earn the Mariners any kind of draft compensation, which only applies if the team carries a top prospect in the big leagues for at least 172 days.
If he doesn’t earn the top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Young will fall short of a full service year and remain under club control for at least six seasons beyond this one. He’d be well-positioned to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason if he’s in the big leagues for good.
AL West Notes: Trout, Soler, Seager, Gilbert, Miller
Mike Trout is seemingly nearing a return to action, as the Angels superstar has been taking part in batting practice sessions and running drills, and is set to start running the bases within the next few days’ time. Trout has been out since April 30 due to a bone bruise in his left knee, and when he does get back, it isn’t clear whether or not Trout will return to outfield duty or if he’ll get more time as a DH in order to help preserve his health. Halos manager Ron Washington told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters that the focus right now is just on getting Trout healthy, and “once Mike is back, we can have that conversation right there” about his spot in the lineup.
After years as the Halos’ center fielder, Trout began 2025 in right field, already as a way to try and reduce the wear-and-tear on the oft-injured star. Of course, if Trout takes on more of a regular DH role, that would force Jorge Soler into more right field work, which wouldn’t bode well for the L.A. defense given Soler’s long history of subpar glovework. While Washington has felt Soler has “done an outstanding job” in 13 appearances as a right fielder this season, the team feels keeping Soler in right field only in limited fashion is the best solution to help Soler’s overall game. “Running him out there five, six days in a row, we’re not going to do that. But give him two days, a change from just hitting, will help him focus more,” Washington said.
More injury updates from around the AL West…
- Corey Seager hasn’t played since May 10 due to a right hamstring strain, though Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News) that the star shortstop could be ready to return at some point this week. Friday seems to be the loose target date, though Seager could be back earlier given the increased ramp-up of his prep work — Seager has been taking part in running and fielding drills, and also took part in a live batting practice on Saturday. The plan is to have these baseball activities get Seager into game-ready mode without the need for a minor league rehab assignment. This is already Seager’s second hamstring-related IL stint of the season, which is why he has been limited to 26 games and 107 plate appearances in 2025. As usual, Seager has been excellent (.300/.346/.520 with six home runs) when he has been able to play, and the offensively-challenged Rangers could badly use that bat in their struggling lineup.
- Mariners starters Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert each threw simulated games on Friday, with Miller throwing around 25 pitches and Gilbert going higher with 35. It was exactly a month ago that Gilbert was pulled from a start due to a flexor strain in his right elbow, and while Friday’s session was a good step forward, the right-hander suggested to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer and other reporters that he has a ways to go in his throwing progression. This could mean another sim game and perhaps multiple minor league rehab starts before Gilbert is back in Seattle’s rotation.
- Miller (on the 15-day IL since May 12 due to elbow inflammation) is hopeful of returning as early as this week, though manager Dan Wilson expressed some caution. In perhaps more of a long-term concern, Miller told Kramer and company that some tests revealed that his elbow was structurally fine overall, but “there’s something in there that causes inflammation and something I can’t just take out without missing the rest of the year. So this ideally gets me to the end of the year, and then we can reassess and see if I need to clean it up or anything.” These comments somewhat expand on the lingering health issues the righty hinted at when speaking with the media at the time of his initial IL placement, and the exact nature of these injuries may not be known until or unless Miller does get a clean-up procedure at season’s end. With a 5.22 ERA over his first 39 2/3 innings this year, something has clearly seemed amiss with Miller’s performance, and there’s naturally some risk in trying to tough out several more months of pitching before properly addressing the problem.